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Put PM Shri rollout on hold, Kerala tells Centre
Kerala government requests to halt PM SHRI scheme proceedings due to internal disagreements, following CPI's objections and calls for review.
The Kerala government wrote to the Union Ministry of Education requesting a halt to all proceedings related to the PM SHRI (Schools for Rising India) scheme, following strong disagreements within the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The letter to the Union government is a follow-up to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement on October 29 that a cabinet sub-committee will review the scheme and submit a report on it.
The decision to review the scheme was taken after the Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest party in the ruling coalition, openly aired its objections to the move and complained that it was not briefed before the MoU was signed.
“We have sent a formal letter to the Union government regarding our stance on the PM-Shri scheme. The cabinet sub-committee will discuss the issue and review the scheme. We will make all efforts to get the funds that we are entitled to,” V Sivankutty, the general education minister, told reporters on Wednesday.
While the announcement that the scheme would be reviewed was made on October 29, it took nearly two weeks for the State to inform the Union government formally about its decision.
The CPI had particularly expressed its displeasure at the delay in sending the letter to the Union Ministry of Education.
It was in October that K Vasuki, secretary of the Kerala general education department, signed the state’s MoU with the Union government in New Delhi to secure much-needed funding for an infrastructure boost for schools and to claim dues under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme.
The CPI and other parties were aggrieved that the MoU was signed without any formal announcement of the same within the cabinet or the LDF meetings.
The CPI also held the view that the implementation of the scheme in Kerala would lead to saffronisation of education through the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP).
At the same time, the CPI(M) had contended that the State government could not turn its face away from the crores of rupees it would get both under PM-Shri and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) schemes.
Expressing happiness over the sending of the letter, Communist Party of India state secretary Binoy Viswam said that the Left parties, including the CPI and the CPI(M), cannot take any decision other than requesting the Centre to stop its implementation in the state.
It is a success of everyone who strongly objects to the “infiltration of the RSS” in the education sector, Viswam added.
